Stanzas For Music

I loved a little maiden          In the golden years gone by;     She lived in a mill, as they all do          (There is doubtless a reason why).     But she faded in the autumn          When the leaves began to fade,     And the night before she faded,          These words to me she said:     'Do not forget me, Henry,          Be noble and brave and true;     But I must not bide, for the world is wide,          And the sky above is blue.'     So I said farewell to my darling,          And sailed away and came back;      And the good ship Jane was in port again,          And I found that they all loved Jack.     But Polly and I were sweethearts,          As all the neighbours know,     Before I met with the mill-girl          Twenty years ago.     So I thought I would go and see her,          But alas, she had faded too!     She could not bide, for the world was wide,          And the sky above was blue.     And now I can only remember          The maid--the maid of the mill,     And Polly, and one or two others          In the churchyard over the hill.     And I sadly ask the question,          As I weep in the yew-tree's shade     With my elbow on one of their tombstones,          'Ah, why did they all of them fade?'      And the answer I half expected          Comes from the solemn yew,     'They could none of them bide, for the world was wide,          And the sky above was blue.'